Mail opener apparatus

ABSTRACT

A mail opener comprises a cutting device, the cutting device being movable between an operating position and a retracted position where it is inoperative, the position of the cutting device being controllable by a drive means controlled by the postage meter. The arrangement is such that a single post station can be provided for both franking mail and opening mail, the post station incorporating a safety measure to prevent newly franked outgoing mail from being inadvertently opened or damaged by the mail opener.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to mail opener apparatus for use incombination with a postage meter.

[0002] Mail opener devices are well known. Generally these devicescomprise a cutting device, typically a blade, which is used to sliceopen a closed mail piece such as an envelope or a small package allowingthe contents to be removed. Such cutting devices may be hand operated ordriven by mechanical means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In accordance with the present invention there is provided a mailopener for use with a postage meter; said postage meter includingprinting means operable to print postal indicia on amil pieces;

[0004] said mail opener comprising a cutting device, the cutting devicebeing movable between an operative position to open mail pieces and aretracted inopertive position in which the cutting device is maintainedout of engagement with mail pieces; drive means operable to displace thecutting device between said operative position and said retractedinoperative position, said drive means being operable by said postagemeter to maintain said cutting device in said retracted inoperativeposition when the printing means is operable to print postal indicia.

[0005] Modern postage meters generally comprise a printing module whichincorporates a print head for printing indicia such as post marks onmail pieces passed through the meter, and an accounting module whichcarries out accounting functions in respect of postage values to beapplied to the mail pieces. The print head is movable between a printingposition and a service position where printing cannot be effected. Inpre-payment meters the print head is only enabled to effect printingwhen the accounting module has effected accounting in respect of thevalue of the post mark desired to be applied. Once the desired postmarkhas been applied, the print head is returned to its service position.Other forms of postage meter are known with different arrangements ofprinter and accounting system, however, these will share thecharacteristic that printing cannot be effected until accounting hastaken place.

[0006] It will be understood that only outgoing mail is desirablyfranked for postage by a postage meter and only incoming mail isdesirably opened by a mail opener. Thus it is desirable that any mailhandling or processing station incorporating both a postage meter and amail opener is constructed and controlled to prevent inadvertent openingof or damage to outgoing mail. This can be achieved by the presentinvention. By providing a means of communication between the postagemeter and the mail opener, the mail opener can be rendered inactive whenthe postage meter is made active.

[0007] The means of communication may be provided in mechanical orelectrical form or by the sending of signals such as electromagneticradiation waves from one device to the other.

[0008] Conveniently the devices communicate through mechanicalinterlocking means being arranged such that movement of the print headof the postage meter into the printing position causes a simultaneousmovement of the cutting device of the mail opener into a stowageposition. This may be achieved by means of a cam slider arrangement. Forexample, the cutting device may be carried by a shaft which is movableaxially in bearings between retracted and operative positions, one endof the shaft in turn being slidable in a slot on a cam slider. The camslider in turn communicates with the postage meter and is caused to moveas the print head moves between its printing and service positions. Asthe cam slider moves, the shaft carrying the cutting device is engagedin the suitably arranged slot between the operating position andretracted position.

[0009] Where the postage meter and mail opener are electricallyconnected to each other a circuit may be provided which senses orresponds to movement of the print head and initiates in response therequired movement of the cutting device. Similarly, the cutting devicemay be controlled by a radiated signal sent by a control system in thepostage meter in response to movement of the print head. Thus mailundergoing franking by the postage meter cannot be damaged by theretracted cutting device.

[0010] The cutting device may be provided in the form of a flat bladewhich can be used to slit a seam of the mail piece or the mail piece maybe drawn across the blade to remove the edge of the mail piece and allowaccess to the contents for removal. Preferably, the blade is a rotaryblade, such an arrangement generally involves less friction and providesa cleaner cut. Optionally, the mail opener further comprises means fordrawing the mail past the cutter to facilitate opening. Conveniently,these drawing means are provided in the form of a set of feed rollers.The feed rollers may optionally be those already present on the postagemeter for ejecting franked mail from the postage meter. Preferably,separate rollers are provided on the mail opener, this allows the mailto be drawn past the cutter at a lower speed than is possible when usingthe postage meter feed rollers. The position and/or rotating speed ofthe rollers may be adjustable to suit the characteristics of the packageto be opened. For example, at least one of the rollers may beresiliently mounted to allow the rollers to be separated by varyingamounts to accommodate different thicknesses of mail.

[0011] The mail opener may be configured for attachment to existingpostage meters, for example by mechanical fixing to the moving parts ofthe postage meter. Alternatively, the mail opener may be “built in” tothe postage meter during manufacture. The mail opener may share a commonpower source with the postage meter or may be provided with its ownindependent power source.

[0012] Thus it can be seen that the apparatus provides a multi functionmail handling or processing station in compact form with built in safetyfeatures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0013] An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way ofexample only, with reference to the drawings in which:

[0014]FIG. 1 shows, from a front perspective view, the operating partsof a mail opener according to the present invention controlled by apostage meter,

[0015]FIG. 2 shows, from a rear perspective view, the operating parts ofthe mail opener of FIG. 1 controlled by the postage meter,

[0016]FIG. 3 shows from above of the operating parts of the mail openercontrolled by a postage meter,

[0017]FIG. 4 shows the mail opener in a housing thereof and having meansfor attachment to the postage meter; and

[0018]FIG. 5 shows a mail piece being opened by the mail opener.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0019] As can be seen from the figures a mail opener generallydesignated as 1 comprises a rotary blade 2 carried by a rotatable shaft3 which is displaceable along axis C. A of feed roller 4 b and presssureroller 4 a are positioned adjacent and down stream of the rotary bladefor drawing mail past the blade. The roller 4 b and rotatable shaft 3are driven by drive mechanism 5 which briefly comprises a drive motordriving an idler shaft and a belt drive from the idler shaft to drivelower roller 4 b. The idler shaft also carries a gear which meshes witha gear carried by rotatable shaft 3 thereby rotating the cutter blade.The gear carried by the rotatable shaft is maintained in drivenengagement with the drive gear by a spring.

[0020] A cam slider 6, displacable in the direction of arrow B,comprises a strip of rigid material having an angled cam portion 7 whichis inclined to the direction B of displacement of the cam slider. Thecam portion has a slot 8 therein in which a free end of the rotatableshaft 3 is slidably engaged. An end portion 9 of the cam slider 6interrelates with a pair of guides 11 which each have an angled slot 10in which the end portion 9 is slidable. The pair of guides 11 arefixedly mounted to the print head carrier 12 of a postage meter. Theprint head carrier 12 carries the print head between printing andservice positions of the print head.

[0021] The print head carrier 12 moves fore and aft along an axisdesignated by arrow A in FIG. 1. When printing of indicia is to beeffected, the print head carrier 12 moves forward along axis A carryingwith it guide pair 11. The mail opener body is fixed in position,relative to the postage meter. The cam slider 6, rotary cutter 2 and itsshaft 3 are free to move relative to the body of the mail opener.Movement of the print head carrier of the postage meter forwardly tomove the print head from the service position to the operative printingposition, causes, due to engagement of the end portion 9 in the slots10, movement of the cam slider 6 towards the print head carrier 12 alongaxis B. Consequent movement of the inclined cam portion 7 of the camslider 6 draws the rotatable shaft 3 rearwardly in the direction ofarrow C and thus the blade, carried by the shaft 3, is moved into aretracted position where it cannot be engaged by mail pieces and hencecannot inadvertently damage outgoing mail that has been passed throughthe postage meter.

[0022] When printing of a postage indicium has been completed, the printhead carrier is moved rearwardly in the direction of arrow A to carrythe print head from the operative printing position into the serviceposition. As a result of this rearward movement of the printheadcarrier, the pair of guides 9 also move rearwardly in the direction ofarrow A and the engagement of the end portion 9 of the cam slider 6 inthe slots 10 of the pair of guides causes the cam slider 6 to move, indirection of arrow B from left to right as seen in the drawings. The camportion 7 acts on the end of the rotatable shaft 3 to move the shaft 3and cutting blade 2 carried thereby in the direction of arrow C wherebythe cutting blade is movedd from the inoperative retracted position intothe operative mail piece opening position.

[0023] The mail opener is contained in a housing 13 which carries aprotective guard 14 to prevent inadvertent interference with andpotential injury from the enclosed rollers and rotary blade. A mailguide 16 is provided on the mail opener which is aligned with a mailfeeding guide on the postage meter. When a mail piece is fed with anedge 17 thereof in engagement with the guide and the rotary cuttr 2 isin the operative mail openeing position as shown in FIG. 5, the rotarycutter blade 2 extends beyond the edge 17 of the mail piece by a smalldistance sufficient such as to cut only the edge 17 from the mail piece.

[0024] Consequently contents of the mail piece are not damaged by theaction of the cutter blade. When the rotary cutter blade 2 is retractedto the inoperative position by the cam portion 7, the cutter blade isdisposed at a position spaced from the edge 17 of the mail piece inwhich the cutter blade cannot engage the mail piece.

[0025] Thus it can be seen that when the print head carrier moves theprint head into an operative printing position, the cam portion 7retracts the cutter blade into an inoperative position and when theprint head carrier moves the print head into an inoperative printingposition at the service position, the cam portion 7 moves the cutterblade into the operative position. Thus during franking of outgoing mailthe mail opener is rendered inoperative.

[0026] As can be seen from FIG. 5, a mail piece 15 is fed with an edge17 thereof just beyond the edge of rotary blade 2 in its operatingposition. The mail piece 15 is fed by the postage meter under therotating blade 2 and enters a nip between rotating feed roller 4 b andidler roller 4 a. The feed rollers 4 a and 4 b then draw the mail piece15 past the blade 2 and the opened mail piece 15 is ejected.

[0027] The mail piece is guided by mail guide 16 to provide a straightcut adjacent to the edge 17 of the mail piece to avoid damage to thecontents. While the rotary cutter is in its operating position as shownin FIG. 5, the print head carrier 12 is in its service station positionbehind the mail guide 16. The dotted line indicates the position of theprinthead carrier when the print head is in the operative printingposition. When the rotary cutter 2 is in the retracted position, therotary cutter is disposed to lie behind the surface of the mail guide 16that is engaged by the mail pieces so that the rotary cutter cannotengage and damage the outgoing franked mail pieces.

[0028] It is to be understood that the foregoing represents just oneembodiment of the invention others of which will no doubt appear to theskilled reader without deviation from the true scope of the invention asclaimed in the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A mail opener for use with a postage meter; said postagemeter including printing means operable to print postal indicia on amilpieces; said mail opener comprising a cutting device, the cutting devicebeing movable between an operative position to open mail pieces and aretracted inopertive position in which the cutting device is maintainedout of engagement with mail pieces; drive means operable to displace thecutting device between said operative position and said retractedinoperative position, said drive means being operable by said postagemeter to maintain said cutting device in said retracted inoperativeposition when the printing means is operable to print postal indicia. 2.A mail opener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the postage meter includes aprint head movable between an operative printing position and a serviceposition where printing cannot be effected; the drive means beingoperated by movement of the print head into the printing position tomove the cutting device into the retracted inoperative position.
 3. Amail opener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the postage meter includes afirst mail feed guide and said mail opener including a second mail feedguide extending in alignment with said first mail feed; said second mailfeed guide being located to guide an edge of a mail piece in engagementwith the cutting device when the cutting device is in the operatiiveposition and to prevent engagement of the cutting device by the mailpiece when the cutting device is retracted into the inoperativeposition.
 4. A mail opener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drive meansis operable by the postage meter by mechanical interlocking means.
 5. Amail opener as claimed in claim 4 wherein the cutting device is carriedby a movable member; the interlocking means comprises a cam with whichthe movable member engages; and operation of the cam causes movement ofthe cutting device between the operating position and the retractedinoperative position.
 6. A mail opener as claimed in any claim 1 whereinthe cutting device is a rotatably driven rotary blade.
 7. A mail openeras claimed claim 1 further comprising driven feed means operative todraw the mail pieces past the cutting device.
 8. A mail opener asclaimed in claim 6 wherein the feed means comprises a driven feed rollerand a pressure roller co-operating therewith.
 9. A mail opener asclaimed in claim 7 including speed adjustment means operable to adjustthe speed of the driven feed means.
 10. A mail opener as claimed inclaim 2 wherein the drive means includes an electrical circuitresponsive to movement of the print head carrier to operate the drivemeans to locate the cutting deivce in the retracted inoperative positionin response to the print head carrier moving to the operative printingpisition.
 11. A mail opener as claimed in claim 10 wherein the postagemeter includes radiation means to radiate a signal in response to theprint head carrier moving to the operative printing position and theelectrical circuit is responsive to the radiated signal.